Aunt Ucă climbed the sunlit steps with difficulty up to the attic to bring down walnuts for the Christmas sweet bread. The light fell in a thick beam down the middle of the wooden planks, maintaining the darkness in the corners. Suddenly, she made the sign of the cross, and a cold sweat ran over her. From a dark corner, four shiny eyes were watching her. Well, Arghirîța, why are you sitting there in the dark? Phew, may the Lord above strike you, are you still nursing that child who, any day now, will be growing new molars and a mustache? I'll take you to the priest to help you get rid of the unclean spirit.
Dan Banu
Look, sir, here's the thing, the taxi driver tells me, in life, no matter how hard you try, everything depends on fate. Some call it God, but I've been at odds with Him ever since He took Emil from me. Life is a dense forest, where light and darkness peek through the trees. It's no use for some to hide behind trunks, trying to stay only in the light, because fate will always bring another tree in their path, and then another, casting shadows. There's no such thing as only light-because even if there were, you'd get used to it, and then any fall would feel like deep darkness. Just like it was after Emil.
Răzvan Dițescu
People say that together we give birth to poetry and stories. That our game of hide-and-seek is eternal. I search for her relentlessly. I do not see her. They say we are inseparable, that we give things shape and depth, that we do not exist without each other, that we complete one another. And yet, I cannot find her. I must simply believe that she exists-that is my conclusion. Come on, let's keep playing. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Ready or not, here I come. Have you seen where the shadow is hiding?
(Translated by Ioana Levîrdă / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year I / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)
Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.